Discussion Groups

I think recusal depends on whether you have an interest in the matter that conflicts with your duty on council to enforce the bylaws. If for example if you're reporting something like a fire hazard that puts others at risk, then I don't see any reason to recuse yourself. On the other hand, if you're complaining about your neighbour interfering with your own use and enjoyment of the property then the best practice might be to recuse yourself. Further to that, if you're a member of council and a bylaw infraction is ever reported against yourself, then under s.32 of the SPA it is mandatory that you recuse yourself from voting on enforcement. **** If you were the one with the odd colour I would say you would have to recuse yourself. Otherwise, no - just report the infraction and make a motion to enforce the bylaw pursuant to s.135 of the SPA. Quote the bylaw, and give the owner notice that fines may be issued until the approved colour is reinstated. If the rest of...

Please forgive me for ranting about the CRT. This summary of Trkla v. The Owners, Strata Plan KAS3099, 2020 BCCRT 533 is an example of how CRT adjudicators allow stratas to unlawfully transfer the cost of statutory repair obligations onto individual owners. You have to read with a critical eye the full decision (on CanLii) to realize how the adjudicator insidiously confuses matters and obscures his distortions of fact and law by creating a narrative that is contrary to the actual chronology of events. To unravel all that I rearranged the text to restore the true chronology, but I have left the adjudicator’s paragraph numbers for reference. 1. The owner sought reimbursement of water damage repairs, heat pump repairs, and loss of use of his property as well as an order that the strata comply with the SPA and avoid bullying (THIS CASE SHOWS HOW CONTRARY TO S.72 REPAIR OBLIGATIONS, THE CRT ALLOWS MONTHS OR YEARS OF CHRONIC DELAYS, ADDITIONAL DAMAGE, AND LOSS OF USE AND ENJOYMENT ...

CHOA represents the strata industry, and in this regard it's important to notice the difference between Owners' and Owners in CHOA's name, and to recognize the significance of that missing apostrophe.     On or about September 1, 2021, CHOA stopped featuring its online admission to being  " the largest association representing the strata industry in British Columbia" and reverted to featuring this instead,  " Leadership, Education and Resources for Strata Owners Across BC. " I would caution owners of strata property to be diligent in considering where that Leadership is taking them, how many times that Education conflicts with the SPA, and how those Resources may be  "representing the strata industry"  rather than the best interests of the owners who make up strata corporations. When I attend CHOA seminars, I try to take what is legitimate, say thank you, and leave the rest.  I posted this because the first step in correcting any problem is to ...

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING THIS LETTER!!! I think it is worth more than it's weight in gold as evidence for the CRT, and I'd phone the author with a huge thank you! Your bylaws are worth much more than the paper they are written on. The strata council is legally obligated to remedy the contraventions of both the use of property bylaw and your underlay sound rating bylaw. Under no circumstances is your neighbour entitled to create a nuisance or assault you with needless noise that unreasonably interferes with enjoyment of your property as purchased. Your strata council's failure to take remedial action as statutorily mandated is creating another nuisance, which is in itself another contravention of standard bylaws. It sounds significantly unfair to expect innocent law abiding victims to absorb the relentless nuisance that others acting unlawfully for the frivolous sake of fashion are RESPONSIBLE for causing. It is well known that replacing carpets with hard surfac...

What’s presented at our AGM is held out as the insurance policy, but it’s just a summary of coverage. ⁠ In fine print at the bottom of the last page it says, "This record sheet is intended for reference only. Please refer to your polic(ies) for complete details." ⁠ After making s.36 requests to the strata since 2003 to no avail, I finally received our full insurance contract directly from BFL by specifically quoting and requesting every item referred to in the summary that was provided at the AGM. That contract contains 150 pages of policies. ⁠ I haven't done it yet, but I intend to ask for a copy of our strata's history of claims also. **** What’s REALLY going on with strata insurance? How much does anybody know? The hard market arising out of catastrophic wildfires, floods, hurricanes, and other environmental disasters associated with global climate change makes sense to me. The financial impact of trip cancellations, bankruptcies, disabilities, and worl...

Does anyone else live in a strata where property managers draft strata bylaws, minutes, and correspondence, and hire its lawyers? Does your strata have a Strata “Agent” or is that person called the Strata “Manager?” Does their title vary from time to time? Call me slow, but I just realized that although owners and council members have responsibilities under the SPA, there’s a legal process whereby most, if not all, the powers and duties of the strata council can be transferred to a single individual who has absolutely no responsibility under the SPA! This is a 2-step process: first owners adopt a bylaw that allows for the powers and duties of council to be delegated; second, a person who is not an owner is named as the new “Strata Manager.” Once this is voted on with approval and recorded in the minutes, the deed is done. This is what the CRT and courts call “democracy.” I don't think most owners realize that they just allowed an administrator with an inherent conflict of i...

We had carpenter ants pouring into our family room like a river. The nest was in an adjacent railroad tie retaining wall on the north side of our patio. I don't know how the pest control company did it, but they found the nest, and we never saw the ants again. The trick is to find the nest. The building was repaired in our leaky condo project, but the retaining wall has remained damaged for about 20 years despite an engineers report recommending repairs over 5 years ago. ****